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The Texas Veterans Housing Assistance Program (VHAP) is a lender-originated program for home loans OVER $45,000. This program gives eligible Texas Veterans a reduced interest rate if they are already approved for financing through a participating lender. That approval can be for a VA, FHA, or Conventional loan. The current maximum loan amount for the Texas Vet loan is $325,000. A Conventional Texas Vet loan will require a down payment of at least 10%, but for VA and FHA, simply follow the guidelines for those programs. This program is especially beneficial for Texas veterans with a compensable VA disability rated at 50% or greater by the Department of Veterans Affairs. If eligible, they receive an additional interest rate discount of 0.35% off the base interest rate set by the Land Board. The base interest rate for this program is calculated by the VLB and released to the public after business hours every Friday for the upcoming week, and is usually better than any other fixed rate programs. Click here to see today's rates for the Texas Vet Housing Assistance Program. Be sure you are looking at the Housing Assistance Program and not the Land Program. The first step in obtaining a VHAP loan is to request a VHAP Certification Application from your Texas VLB participating lender, such as Bowman Finance. Click here to read more about eligibility and to download the necessary forms. We will process your application on your behalf. There are just a couple of "catches" to the Texas Vet Housing Assistance Program. First, you must agree to keep the house as your primary residence for at least 3 years. You can always refinance or sell your home at any time, but they want to discourage using the program and then turning the property into a rental in the first 3 years. If you do so, the Land Board could potentially call your note due, or at the very least, increase the rate to the Texas Vet base rate. To date we have yet to hear of this happening to anyone, but you should be aware of it. The only other thing to consider is that there CAN be an additional cost for the Texas Vet program. They call it the "Texas Vet Participation Fee", and it can be up to 1% of the total loan amount. Depending on the size of the loan, this fee may be reduced or completely waived. One of the HUGE upsides to the Texas Vet program is for those currently serving in the Reserves or National Guard. If you have a Texas Vet Housing Assistance loan and you are "activated" specifically for the WAR ON TERROR, the interest on your Texas Vet loan will temporarily be waived, so that all you need to pay on a monthly basis is the principal and your escrows. That could easily save you $500 or more per month! We obviously cannot tell you everything we know about Texas Vet loans on a single page of our website, but we can certainly invite you to give us a call and find out how this wonderful program may benefit you and your family.
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